Yugoslavia

SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

The largest and most politically influential republic of the former
Yugoslavia, Serbia has had a well-developed film culture centered in
Belgrade, including several production companies as well as national
educational, archival, and publishing institutions. While films by
Dušan Makavejev and Aleksandar Petrović are well-regarded in
the West, Serbia has been home to many auteurs. Surrealist-inspired
Puriša Dorlević was a very prolific director, with some
fifty features to his credit, and a major contributor to
novi film
, a tendency in filmmaking with its center in Belgrade. The directors
representing the so-called Black Wave, Živojin Pavlović and
Želimir Žilnik, were based there, as well as several members
of the Prague Group who established themselves in the 1980s: Goran
Marković, Srdjan Karanović, and Goran Paskaljeví.
Other directors of this generation particularly active during the 1980s
were Miloš Radivojević, Jovan Aćin (
Bal na vodi
[
Hey, Babu Riba
, 1986]), Slobodan Šijan, Branko Baletić and Boro and
Drašković (
Vukovar—jedna priča
[
Vukovar—poste restante
, 1994]).

Film production as well as film culture in Serbia begun to flourish in the
1990s despite enduring periods of war and considerable destruction to its
infrastructure. Many established directors returned to Belgrade to
complete their projects, and a new generation of filmmakers began to
emerge. They initially focused on documenting the interethnic conflict and
the war but soon turned to fictional works concerned with the trauma of
the Yugoslav breakup and the social and economic decline of Serbia. Srdjan
Dragojević belongs to the youngest generation of Serbian directors
who attracted critical attention. His
Lepa sela lepo gore
(
Pretty Village, Pretty Flame
, 1996) is a witty antiwar film. Other directors of note who successfully
launched their careers during this period include Oleg Novković,
Gorčin Stojanović, and Mirjana Vukomanoví with her
Tri letnja dana
(
Three Summer Days
, 1997). In Montenegro, Levćen Film was responsible for most of the
film production. Its first film,
Zle pare
(
Cursed Money
, 1956), was directed by Velimir-Velja Stojanović. Zdravko
Velimirović directed
Dan četrnaesti
(
The Fourteenth Day
, 1960) and
Derviš i smrt
(
The Dervish and the Death
, 1974). Other noted Montenegrin directors are Boško
Bosković, Milo Djukanović, and Živko Nikolić.